Cultural Routes of the Council of Europe / Routes4U Program

At the annual conference of the European Institute of Cultural Routes in Görlitz, the Council of Europe announced the ongoing programme to promote the Cultural Routes of the Council of Europe in four different regions of eastern and south-eastern Europe. These are: Baltic Sea; Danube Basin; Alpine and Adriatic – Ionian areas. The last group, also known as EUSAİR, is of greatest interest to us in Turkey – it currently includes parts of Italy, Albania, Croatia, Montenegro, and Greece, but other countries are being invited to join. Their aim is to increase the number of Cultural Routes crossing the region, and to develop standards for rural tourism in the region.

The Culture Routes Society has asked the Turkish Culture and Tourism Ministry to make sure that Turkey joins this working group. We want to get better recognition and support for the Via Eurasia, Turkey’s first route linking Europe to Turkey. This runs from Bari in Italy, across the Balkans to Istanbul, then turns south and links several Turkish routes, ending at Demre, Antalya.